Yyyyeah, I’ve been away for quite a while. What can I say? Sometimes life gets in the way. *coughs* Without further ado, on to the blogging.
I’d like to bend your ear about one of the most dreaded concepts of computer gaming: the Bad End.
When someone starts reading a story, then can end up in just about any kind of world. It could be a beautiful utopia, it could be a soul-crushing dystopia, it could be any kind of place in any kind of time. The reader is usually invited in some way to identify with the protagonist, the hero of the tale. Whatever conflict faces Our Hero(tm), the reader is there with him or her, facing the same problems. The most basic expectation is that Our Hero will win in the end. No matter the hardship faced, we want Our Hero to save the day and come through, perhaps with more scars than what he or she started with, perhaps a bit less perky and innocent, but still ultimately victorious.
What do the readers feel when that doesn’t happen?
Logically speaking, most people who try to fight giants should be turned into sticky red stains on the bottom of their enemies’ feet. Logically speaking, someone who tries to change the world is more than likely to be disappointed. But how many people pick up a book and expect the story to be governed by logic? Especially if the book is of the science fiction or fantasy themes? In horror, it is more common for Our Hero to suffer defeat, but even then, I think people are hoping for the protagonist to buck the odds and win out.
But in some stories, they just don’t.
I know I hate it when that happens. I really, really do hate it. Watching the character through whose eyes you saw die or otherwise fail at the end is upsetting to me.
But I do understand that in some stories, it is necessary. You can’t always buck the odds. Some stories were written not to have the reader cheer, but to wring a tear from their eye. It may not sound nice, but stories are created to evoke all sorts of thoughts and emotions from the reader. Some writers even specialize in negative endings, for whatever reasons they may have, and they are still read quite eagerly.
I am not a huge fan of the concept, and even I have used it once or twice. Of course it helps that you don’t have to make the end the absolute worst it can be. There are shades of Bad to every Bad End. Save the world, but lose the love of your life. Get the love of your life, but lose the crown and the respect of your followers. Get neither girl nor gold, but live to fight another day, even if that other day is never written about. I’m sure anyone who reads this blog will get the idea.
And so this blog post has a more positive end.